Sebastian Wallroth, Germany WikiConference Yerevan, Armenia

October 2013

About me and Wikimedia Deutschland

● Me – born 1968 in East Germany

– Wikipedia Editor since 2003 (mainly German Wikipedia and Commons)

– co-founder of Wikimedia Deutschland; Board Member since 2011

– volunteer

● Wikimedia Deutschland– founded 2004 (first Chapter)

– members: ~6,000 (October 2013); 2,606 (2012): 1,259 (2011)

– donations: $6 Mio (2012), $4 Mio (2011), $2 Mio (2010)

Disclaimer: I speak for myself, not in the name of Wikimedia Deutschland

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Why not let the people pay for Wikipedia?

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Who is „the people“ in context of Wikipedia?

● Editors– Create content.

– Why?

● Donors– Give money.

– Why?

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What editors do

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Computer_keyboard.gif Public Domain; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brain_-_Lobes.png John A Beal, PhD Dep't. of Cellular Biology & Anatomy, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport, CC-BY; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_eye-_side.JPG Larali21, CC-BY-SA; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanders_720_%28I197205%29.png Informatyka, rok 1972, Public Domain; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_book_bindings.jpg Tom Murphy VII, CC-BY-SA-3.0 W

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CC

-BY

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What editors do

vote

take photos

argue

code

troll

check references

create tools

strategize

build alliances

mediate

translate

campaign

improve

delete

give suggestions

categorize

poke around

prosecute

revise

discuss

chat

donate

lobby

flirt

make friends

learn

lead

support

OTRS

mentor

wikify

review

clean up

self-express

FAC

welcome

meetup

… …

…

…

…

…

…

…

promote

protect

write [[articles]]

spell check

fight vandals

patrol

administrate

Merz, Manuel (2011): Understanding Editor Satisfaction and Commitment. First impressions of the Wikipedia Editor Satisfaction Survey. http://www.purl.org/merz/20110804 W

hy n

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Wik

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CC

-BY

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Editor motivation

Cost Benefit Consideration

Importance of movement targets

Identification with movement

Task characteristics(task diversity, relevance,

autonomy, feedback)

Satisfaction

Engagement

Das Phänomen Wikipedia: Motivationale Einflussfaktoren auf die freiwillige Mitarbeit an einer offenen webbasierten Enzyklopädie. Joachim Schroer & Guido Hertel. Universität Würzburg. DGPs Fachgruppentagung AO 2007 / Trier / 19. September 2007 http://www.i2.psychologie.uni-wuerzburg.de/ao/research/wikipedia/fg_ao_2007_wikipedia.pdf Why

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Most editors do it not for money

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Domkapitel_Salzburg_20_Dukaten_1772.jpg MatthiasKabel, CC-BY-SA-3.0 Why

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The „but“: Paid editing

● Marketing, Politics, Ideology● Practice to date: arbitrary tolerance● Current paid contributors

– temporary guests

– only interested in their own articles

– not interested in neutral point of view

– very few from museums, archives, etc.

● Basic normative conflict: openness, anonymity, and voluntary work

Dirk Franke. The Acceptable Limits of Professional Writing on Wikipedia. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Die_Grenzen_der_Bezahlung/6_weeks Why

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DonorsI donor for Wikipedia, because... Yes No

I want to see no ads on Wikipedia 87% 13%

I want to protect Wikipedia from influencing and manipulation 92% 8%

I want to see an quality increase of Wikipedia content 73% 27%

I want assure free access to knowledge for everybody 85% 15%

I want to give something back to Wikipedia, that I use so often 96% 4%

I want to use Wikipedia for free further on 94% 6%

Donors survey 2011. Wikimedia Deutschland. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ergebnisse_Spender-Umfrage_2011_Wikimedia_Deutschland.pdf

Wikimedia Foundation 2012 Donations and Contributions Revenue

$35.000.000Wikimedia Foundation 2011–2012 Annual Report. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/WMF-AR_2011%E2%80%9312_EN_SHIP2_17dec12_300dpi_hi-res.pdf

Why

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Conclusion

● They pay for Wikipedia.● We ask – they pay.● Voluntary.

● Donors motivation– not to pay the editors

– for a Free Wikipedia; for Free Knowledge

● Editors motivation– interesting tasks

– identification with movement

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Thought Experiement

● Let the customers (readers, re-users) pay.● Pay the editors.● What would be the effects of a classic business

model to the Wikipedia project?

Money Flow

User Editor$

$

$ Agency $

UserUser

UserUser

User

User User

UserEditor

EditorEditor

Editor

Editor Editor

UserUser

UserUser

User

User User

UserEditor

EditorEditor

Editor

Editor Editor

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Editor Balance

● Armenia is a country.

➔ Armenia is an orthodox christian mountainous country.

➔ Armenia is an orthodox christian, mountainous country.

➔ Armenia (/ r mi niə/ Armenian: ɑ ˈ ː Hayastan), officially the Հայաստան

Republic of Armenia (Armenian: Հայաստանի

, Hayastani ՀանրապետությունHanrapetut’yun), is a mountainous country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia.

Wiki-Watch's infos:

● Total:

– Authors: 183

– Edits: 297

– List of references: 134

– Links: > 1,000● Within the observation period:

– Authors: 9● MosMusy: 27%● HouseOfArtaxiad: 9%● BabbaQ: 9%● Zyzzzzzy: 9%● NeroN BG: 9%● all others: 36%

– Edits: 11

– unfriendly reverts: 0

– Protections of pages: 0

– Visitors: 138,541

http://en.wiki-watch.de/index.php?Content=LemmaDetails&LemmaDetailsTitle=Armenia

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Editor Motivation

● Displacement of other motivation factors● Shift of topic balance (interest driven → money

driven)● Divorce of communities

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User Balance

● Reader– Frequency, Time, Device, Country, …

● Re-User– Frequency, Time, Device, Country, …

– Modification

– Private, Education, Business

– Complete article, Basic information, Snippet

$$ AgencyUserUser

UserUser

User

User User

UserEditor

EditorEditor

Editor

Editor Editor$

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Conclusion

● Change of editor motivation could crash the project● Editor share is always unfair● Re-Use tracking is complex and money burning● No guaranteed free access to knowledge

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Questions and more Questions

Thank you.